


more than one way (to find a family)

by yellowbound



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, bed sharing, draven is not a monster, no one dies, not even jyn's father
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 02:12:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10584279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbound/pseuds/yellowbound
Summary: Instead of Cassian kidnapping everyone over the course of a few days as he does in the movie, here he kidnaps (or "recruits") the Rogue One crew for the Rebellion months before, allowing them time to form a team before they have to go rescue Jyn's father."This entire setup was to her an absurd luxury. It didn’t matter that there was a Rebellion and an Empire - there had always been those things, and Jyn had not even had this much."





	

**Author's Note:**

> One of the biggest issues with the movie is there are all these great characters but they meet each other and then die soon after. So here is a story about them meeting one another and *not* dying immediately.

Draven had hoped that once Cassian had recruited K-2SO, that would be the end of it. Let him have one more recruit, to remember his pre-spy days by, and then focus on new challenges.

When Draven saw the young woman, he knew his hopes had been in vain.

The worst part was that it proved that damn general in charge of recruitment right - that Cassian wouldn’t be able to keep from drawing people to the cause. He believed so completely it was addictive.

They had gotten into a shouting match, Draven and General Ostia, over Cassian. On one side was Draven, who saw Cassian’s potential as a spy, and on the other, Ostia, who knew his value as a recruiter and did not want to give him up.

In the end, the decision had been Mon Mothma’s. She had sided with Draven, as the Alliance’s need for information was necessary just to keep them one step in front of the Empire.

Draven had thought that would be the end of it, but Ostia had left him with a warning - Cassian Andor would not be able to resist bringing in strays.

And was _strays_ ever the right word. K-2 was a piece of work, blunt and sharp all over the place, telling people information they didn’t want to know.

And the young woman… Draven had to admire Cassian’s audacity at bringing her in at all.

Jyn Erso, the daughter of Galen Erso, who worked in weapons development for the Empire. She didn’t know where her father was, or so she claimed.

Jyn Erso, trained by Saw Gerrera, too hard-core of a rebel even for the Rebel Alliance. She had no idea where he was, either, apparently.

Furthermore, Cassian was asking that she not be known by Jyn Erso, but by an alias.

“If word gets out that she’s here, people might get it in their head that they can use her to get to her father.”

“And she is interested in helping the Rebellion?” asked Mon Mothma.

Draven saw Cassian hesitate slightly, weighing his answer. “No. She hates the Empire, doesn’t want to have anything to do with them, but she doesn’t think much of the Rebel Alliance, either. She just wants a place to sleep and steady food.”

“This isn’t the best place for that,” Dravin stated.

“The Empire doesn’t make it easy anywhere.”

What Andor was asking was this: that the knowledge of who she really was not leave this room. Only himself, Draven and Mon Mothma would know. (Draven also assumed K-2 knew, and how Cassian planned to keep him from blurting that knowledge to the whole base Draven didn’t ask.) She would be assigned to him, help him with his job.

Draven assumed this meant that like K-2, her loyalties were to Cassian, not the Rebellion.

“Let her come in,” said Mothma, once they had questioned Cassian to their satisfaction.

He brought Jyn Erso into the room and then left, Draven presumed to wait nervously by the door.

After a few exchanges to ascertain that everyone present knew what was going on, Draven started on questions he actually cared about the answers to.

“You don’t like the Rebellion.”

“Saw Gerrera abandoned me at sixteen. Why would I like the Rebellion?”

“Gerrera is… only tangentially associated with the Rebellion,” said Mon Mothma.

“After being abandoned by one rebel I didn’t feel like trying with any others.”

“Then why help Captain Andor?”

Jyn shrugged, trying to appear casual. “He paid well.” A pause. “And I didn’t know he was with the Rebellion, initially.”

“Why did Gerrera get rid of you?” Dravin asked. Andor had told him about first assuming she had left of her own accord for some reason, but eventually found out it had not been her choice.

“Cassian said Saw dumped me to keep me safe, because others knew who I was, and would try to use that against me.”

“And why did you think Gerrera got rid of you, before Captain Andor gave you that explanation?” Draven had to give it to her - Mothma didn’t get to where she was because she was stupid.

Jyn was silent for a moment. Contained, but struggling with it. This was something she very obviously didn’t want to admit out loud. In fact, she might never have said it out loud before. But Draven could guess what Cassian had told her prior to this meeting: _Be honest. Even if it’s hard. *Especially* if it’s hard._

“I assumed I had made a mistake.” The answer was quieter than her previous answers had been.

“Did Saw often abandon people for mistakes?” Draven asked. He knew Saw’s methods were harsh, but if nothing else it was a waste of resources to abandon highly trained operatives.

“Saw’s punishments were harsh for those who he felt had screwed up.”

Mothma and Draven exchanged a look, silently agreeing on their course of action.

It was Draven who informed her. “You will be given the rank of private and assigned to Captain Andor. First, you will undergo Rebellion standard training.”

“I don’t-”

Draven raised a hand. “You were well trained by Saw Gerrera, we know. But this is more to teach you what methods the Rebellion finds appropriate, and what methods it does not, then to teach you any new skills.”

Jyn regarded him, weighing that answer. He knew at least that she understood the compliment, as she was not as tense as before.

“If there is nothing else, Private Hallik, you are free to go.” Jyn looked back and forth between the two of them and nodded, heading to tell her new (well, newly official) commanding officer of the outcome of the meeting.

Draven and Mothma looked at each other across the table. “He is very smart,” observed the senator.

“I know.” Mothma was no doubt referring to Cassian’s decision to hold this meeting with both of them, simultaneously, so one would not have the advantage of knowing who Jyn Erso was over the other.

“Do you think she is a spy for the Empire?”

“No. Cassian does not, and his instinct are good.”

“This could still backfire. If something happens to Captain Andor, Erso and K-2SO could turn on the Rebellion.”

“I think of something were to happen to Captain Andor, that would only be after both Erso and K-2SO were out of the picture.”

“Do you think they’ll manage to avoid killing each other?”

“The droid and the girl?” Draven was smiling. So she had noticed how their personalities might clash. “Only for his sake.”

“I hope he is successful.”

That was why they let him keep K-2, and were letting him keep Jyn Erso. Andor’s devotion and competence were beyond question, but his willingness to sacrifice himself for the cause meant, well, that he might make such a sacrifice where one wasn’t necessary or prefered. K-2SO was one safety net. Jyn Erso would be another.

She might come in handy in other ways, as well.

*

“You promised I could stay with you.”

“You can.”

“Then why do I have to do this training?”

“So I don’t get knifed by my fellow soldiers. This isn’t a prison. You can come find me whenever your sessions are over.”

Jyn regarded him. That thought had never occurred to her. Once her training sessions with Saw were over he had other things for her to do. She was never allowed to pick her own place to go, until he abandoned her and she had no choice.

“You also need to let them train you.”

“I _don’t-_ ”

“Do you want to know how I figured out who you were? After I saw you fight those pirates on Emotit, I realized you had been trained by Saw Gerrera. I was able to figure out who you were from there.”

Jyn glared at him, still fuming.

“You don’t need to pretend you don’t know anything, and most people won’t pick up on who you were trained by, just be careful,” Cassian added, trying to mollify her.

He wasn’t particularly successful. “You won’t leave before I’m done?”

“I don’t order myself around. If General Draven or the senator send me on a mission, I go.”

Jyn crossed her arms in front of him.

“Feel free to use my room.”

Jyn was not appeased.

“I can leave Kaytoo.”

“You will _not_. At least I know he’d do anything to make sure you come back in one piece.”

Cassian sighed. “It’s only a few months.”

Jyn made sure those in charge of training got rid of her as soon as they possibly could.

In the meantime, she got to know Cassian’s quarters.

She was assigned to the barracks, bunking with dozens of other recruits. She had spent the first night there, but after that she had hunted down Cassian’s room, determined to carve out a spot for herself. She’d rather be with the one rebel she knew, than many she did not.

That turned out to be easier than she could’ve imagined. His room was large, set in one of the outer walls of a repurposed temple, with a large window overlooking the surrounding swampy forest. The window came with a ledge more than big enough for her to make a bed on. Quite frankly, it was probably the nicest place Jyn had ever slept.

The room also came with more than enough material for her to make a bed with. The walls were covered with art from all over the galaxy, and there were various rugs and blankets of all kinds scattered about, blending together to form a beautiful tapestry.

“Do you know how much this is worth?” she had asked Cassian, admiring a Hungeiden ceremonial mask. 

“Yes,” answered Cassian, because of course he did. 

“You could get a lot of money for this stuff,” Jyn had said. 

“I do,” Cassian responded. 

He told her how he used pieces to get money to pay off contacts - sometimes, the pieces *were* the price for the information he wanted. They had all been left behind by those who had set out on a mission for the Rebellion and never returned.

Jyn was using what was left behind by dead people, but she thought how that was nothing new, as she fingered the kyber crystal at her neck.

*

Jyn was with Cassian by accident. She had been handing over the information he had promised to pay for - he was reliable and his rates were good, two things Jyn knew not to take for granted - when trouble had erupted around them and he had taken her with him to his ship.

It was there she had met his reprogrammed Imperial droid. It was there K-2SO had informed her what Cassian’s name actually was (she had known he was using an alias but hardly cared).

It was there she had her suspicions confirmed, that he did indeed work for the Rebellion.

He had asked her to join the rebellion, and she had refused. He had not been surprised.

He had offered to take her wherever she wanted to go.

There hadn’t been anywhere she wanted to go. She wanted to stay with her dependable source of income.

Her dependable source of income had informed her that he was part of the Rebel Alliance she had just refused to join.

She reiterated that she had no interest in joining.

She said she could join him whenever he left to go on a mission.

He had pointed out they would know - oxygen consumption on the ship would double. It was fine occasionally, it wasn’t uncommon for him to have to transport lifeforms for a variety of reasons, but every mission would be noticeable.

She said he could alter the consumption data, resupply covertly so they would never know.

He had refused. He didn’t lie to them, he said, because he spent so much of his time lying he needed to have somewhere he didn’t have to do that. It would impact his ability to serve the Rebellion.

Jyn had huffed at him about his precious Rebellion, stalking away to the other end of the small ship as he was called away by K-2.

A little while later, he had come back to her, with his plan.

She had been skeptical, but so far her steady source of income had remained steady, even if there was less income. That she no longer needed, because the Rebellion fed her, clothed her, housed her and saw to her medical needs. This had gone better than she had thought it would.

*

Jyn was instantly awake when she heard the distressed noises. They weren’t loud, but she had been trained to not sleep through such sounds, because doing so could get her killed.

She quickly located the source of the sounds. There were jerky, uncoordinated movements to go with the sounds coming from where Cassian slept across the room, and Jyn could tell instantly what this was - a nightmare.

She got up and knelt down besides Cassian’s bed, her hands resting on his blankets where he could see them when he woke up, as Saw had taught her.

However, when she tried to wake him up, it didn’t work. He didn’t respond to her touch or voice, and he was still obviously distressed. She could call louder or be rougher with him, but she had been woken many times like that, and it wasn’t pleasant. After a moment’s indecision, she did what she had wanted others to do for her. She crawled into bed besides him and curled around him.

It took a few moments, but the distressed sounds stopped and he stilled next to her. While she was contemplating whether she should stay or go back to her own bed, she fell asleep.

The next morning she woke in his bed, Cassian already having gotten up. The smell of caf filled the room, and once Cassian realized she was awake he brought a cup to her.

He said nothing about having found her asleep in his bed, and Jyn had no desire to elaborate, as she sipped the warm beverage.

Caf in the morning was not something Saw allowed. It wasn’t something he wanted his soldiers to be reliant on, because they would often need to wake up without it.

Not only did Cassian have caf in the mornings, but he managed to rig a set up in his room, so he didn’t even have to go to the cafeteria to get it.

Jyn leaned back against the wall, her legs still tangled in Cassian’s blankets, as she watched the forest lighten through the window, a warm cup of caf _that someone had handed to her_ in her hands. This entire setup was to her an absurd luxury. It didn’t matter that there was a Rebellion and an Empire - there had always been those things, and Jyn had not even had this much.

She knew he would soon head off to meetings and she would probably have to go prepare supplies with Kay (ugh - though if the price of her current comfort was time spent with an annoyingly honest droid it was a price she was willing to pay) but she was going to enjoy this while she had it.

*

“It wasn’t his fault.” Jyn had cornered Dravin later, once she had been able to get out from under Cassian, and apparently felt the need to stick up for him.

“I know,” Dravin responded.

That caught her off guard. She and Cassian had come back two days late, with a different ship than they had started with, medical supplies they hadn’t been sent to get but would nevertheless be useful, and the information they _had_ been sent for. Dravin knew exactly what happened - that Cassian had been about to get said information, when Jyn had sensed danger and prevented him from doing so, necessitating further effort to actually procure said information. Cassian hadn’t put it that way, of course, and Draven hardly expected him to throw anyone in front of a speeding light cruiser, though this was why he preferred his agents to work alone, so they didn’t have to cover for others’ mistakes.

But Erso hadn’t made a mistake. She had done exactly what Draven had kept her around for.

She narrowed her eyes at him. She was a suspicious person, which Draven appreciated. “So he’s not in any sort of trouble?”

“Did it look like he was in trouble?” Erso had been at the debrief - Draven had not given Andor any sort of grief over the mission. He wanted his agents to be successful and he gave them the leeway to do that.

“So you don’t care that I prevented him from getting the intel originally?”

“Why did you prevent him from getting the intel originally?” Great, now they were only talking in questions. This was going exactly how Draven would predict a conversation with Erso to go. Confrontational.

“Because if we waited any longer for Cassian’s contact we would’ve been caught by stormtroopers.”

“Why was Captain Andor okay with getting caught by stormtroopers?”

“He said he was more likely to get hurt than caught.” And that was it, Draven thought. That was why his best spy kept coming back injured.

“He was willing to risk injury for the Rebellion.” It was not a question. Jyn nodded. “That’s why you’re with him. I would really prefer he came back injured less often.”

Jyn considered Draven. “So you’re using me to get more use out of your spy.”

“Essentially, yes.”

*

Jyn walked away from her conversation with General Draven uncertain how she felt about, well, everything. She had never been used to keep someone alive/in one piece before. On the other hand, she saw what Cassian’s missions cost him, as the Rebellion did not ask him to do anything easy. The injuries might have been an unconscious way for him to avoid doing too much.

She shouldn’t care - she got food and shelter and relative safety on occasion for her work, which is more than she had ever gotten before, and, she felt, a fair trade.

But if she was getting what she wanted, and Draven and Mon Mothma were getting what they wanted, Cassian was getting the business end of a blaster in this deal.

Jyn eventually found her way to Kay and promptly got into an argument, which she had found was a good way to avoid thinking about things she didn’t know how to think about.

*

Jyn’s eyes fluttered open. She was resting comfortably in her bed, the window looking over Yavin IV’s forest to left, which Cassian was sitting on the floor to her right, his head on the bed next to her, cradled on his arms.

Jyn contempted the dark haired head next to her. It was bound to happen sooner or later - she had picked up an injury on their latest mission.

A blaster bolt had grazed her side. She was lucky it was not a direct hit. But the blast had caused her to lose her balance and skid into a corner they were trying to get around, causing further damage.

Cassian had stuffed her in a nearby supply closet and told her to wait for him, he’d be right back.

Jyn had done her best to slam down her disappointment - she had known then that he would not be coming back. He would either get himself killed or leave without her, but he had the intel he had been sent to get, and he wouldn’t risk the Rebellion not receiving it by coming back to get her.

While sitting in the closet Jyn took stock of what she had on her - a blaster with no charge, credits but not enough for medical treatment, and little else.

So she would wait. Wait enough time for everything to calm down, so she could find things to steal to get herself out of this situation somehow.

The door to her hiding place had been thrown open. “Jyn? Can you walk?” She sat frozen in shock, barely able to see in the suddenly intense light that was flooding her vision. The supply closet had not been well-lit.

“Jyn?” Cassian had crouched in front of her, reaching for her, looking her over, trying to suss out how injured she was and what he could do about it.

It was the concern on his face that got Jyn out of her shock. Somehow she was able to convey to him that she could, in fact, walk, and he helped her up. When she stumbled a bit, he pressed her to his side, both to help her move and also to hide the blaster hit, protecting her from suspicion.

And now she was here, back in the room she shared with him on the Rebel base, having had her wounds treated. She was still groggy from said treatment and would need rest, but otherwise she was okay.

Cassian had come back for her.

She shifted slightly, which was enough to cause him to lift his head to look at her. He was clearly exhausted, but he gave her a smile. “Hi,” he said.

He was still worried, she noted, but it wasn’t the panicky concern he had when they were trying to get back to base.

She tugged at his arm, pulling him into bed with her, until he was laying comfortably at her side. She was soon asleep again, the sound of Cassian’s breathing mixing with the more distant noises of the forest below.

*

Cassian peeled off his coat, throwing it into the garbage receptacle with disgust. Jyn knew he had liked that jacket, but he had plenty more, she didn’t feel all that sorry it had been ruined, only relief that he was alive.

His anger wasn’t really at the ruined outerwear, it was at her. For pulling him away before he was ready to leave, again. For preventing him from getting the information he wanted, again. From spotting trouble and getting him out of it, again. For saving his life, again. So he could do more for his precious Rebellion.

They had had this argument, over and over. Jyn could have it with herself in her sleep, she knew Cassian could, too. So this time they didn’t have it out loud, it just filled the silence between them, tense and unyielding, as their ship hurled through hyperspace.

She watched Cassian as he returned weapons to their storage compartments, harsher with their placement than he needed to be. She didn’t want to have this familiar argument again, even in silence.

So they could have a different, entirely new argument.

“Why do you only kiss me for a mission?”

Cassian looked up at her. She could tell he was startled by the question, but only because she knew him so well. Otherwise, he was his normal tense, brooding, reserved self.

Placing his face closer to hers than necessary, which was fine because this was how they normally talked to each other, he answered her question with another: “Do you _want_ me to kiss you outside missions?”

“Yes.”

Again, Jyn could tell she startled him. He bothered less with trying to hide it this time. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

Jyn turned his own tactic on him. “Do you want to kiss me?”

“Yes.” Gruff and deep. Damn, he was attractive, especially when he was tense all over.

“I thought you wouldn’t, because of the Rebellion.”

“That’s why we can’t.” That was perhaps the least surprising answer Jyn had ever received.

“The Rebellion has a strict no-kissing-Jyn-Erso policy?”

“The Rebellion has a strict using-people-to-further-their-own-ends policy.”

“And that’s what you’d do. Use me. For the Rebellion.” She saw that one hit. Belatedly, she wondered if they could go back to the old argument.

“What do you want me to do, abandon you in a supply closet with nothing but a blaster? So I don’t know where you are and can’t find you? Because that’s the only way I can think of to prevent anyone from using you.”

Jyn felt the familiar anger, hard and cold, spread through her. “I get no say in this? It’s what you decide is best?”

That was the big flaw with Saw’s decision - that he didn’t tell her the danger, and let her decide what to do about it. Cassian had done the opposite, when he had invited her to the Rebellion - it had been a true invite, one that she didn’t have to take.

“ _I_ get no say in this,” he practically growled at her. “I made my choice a long time ago. You can leave whenever you want.”

“Is that what you want me to do? Would that make it easier for you?”

She saw him swallow. “No.” Flat.

She pushed. “But then you wouldn’t have to worry about using me.”

“No, then I’d just worry about if you were alive or not.”

“So you’re not kissing me because it will make it easier to use me when the time comes?” Jyn wasn’t entirely sure which one of them that statement was more painful for.

“I’m not kissing you because it will be easier for you to run when the time comes.”

“You don’t get to make those decisions for me,” Jyn was so angry she was shaking. “What if I agree to be used, like you did?”

“I can’t guarantee you’ll be asked,” Cassian said tightly, strain and anger threaded through every word. And desperation, to be understood, which made everything so much worse.

“You think I don’t know that?” She was still here, anyway, and it was all, all his fault. “You think I don’t know who these people are, the ones who send you on their toughest missions, and use me to make sure you come back in once piece, so they can ask you to do more, no matter how much it hurts you?”

Cassian clearly had not realized she knew that much. “If you know who these people are, then you know why we can’t do this.”

“No, I don’t. It’ll still hurt just as much.” Jyn pulled away slightly as she saw Cassian freeze in response to her words. She hadn’t planned on saying that, she didn’t know where it came from. Maybe because no matter what happened, it would hurt.

Cassian hadn’t stopped looking at her, studying her face with intent and focus. She noticed she was shaking, and tried in vain to calm herself down. _I get no say in this_ , he had said. But he did have a say, he was just refusing to use it. He did everything he could for her, and then acted like he did nothing at all. Did he think she didn’t notice?

That was the problem - he was essentially saying ‘you don’t have to notice’. She could ignore him all she wished. But that didn’t make things any easier, and she was sick of pretending it did.

Cassian reached out for her face, laying a hand gently along her jawline. Jyn was careful not to notice he wasn’t entirely steady while he did this. When she didn’t pull away, he gently lifted her chin to give her a kiss. Slow and soft, it was nothing like the kiss in the corridor, a kiss that had been a performance for other people. This kiss was for her alone.

Jyn wrapped her arms around him and, breaking from the kiss, rested her head on her chest. They were both still too upset to go on kissing for long. Cassian used one arm to hold her tightly to him, while one hand moved gently up and down her back, trying to calm them both down.

Softly, he whispered, “ _I’d stop it from hurting if I could_ ,” into her hair.

Jyn turned her head to bury her face in his chest. “ _I know_ ,” she whispered back.

 

*

Draven regarded Andor’s most recent strays with interest. They were a bit different than Erso and the droid - their loyalties were not primarily to Cassian. Near as Draven could tell, they were loyal to one another and hated the Empire. Chirrut Iwme wanted to help, and Baze Malbus would go where his friend went, so the Alliance picked up two more people for the cause.

Andor had picked them up when he was sent to Jedha to suss out why the Empire was stripping the Temple of kyber crystal. The Empire wanted the crystal for something, but the answer to that wasn’t on Jedha, so Andor had left, but not before befriending and ultimately recruiting two more people for the cause.

They were both highly trained in different aspects of combat, and put in charge of simultaneously training and terrifying recruits. Chirrut also wanted to keep the memory of the Jedi and the Force alive, and he found a willing audience amongst many rebels. Baze, meanwhile, had lit up upon seeing the Alliance’s stockpile of weapons, and was helping them improve it.

*

Jyn had thought that Saw had given her a wide range of combat skills, but Chirrut and Baze quickly showed her there was more for her to learn. Chirrut made her practice with one of her senses taken away. Baze worked on her aim, and took Cassian along and made him focus on hitting more than one person at a time. Cassian was quite obviously uncomfortable with this but went along, because if it was a skill he could use for the Rebellion he would learn it, regardless of how distasteful he might find it. “You find this distasteful,” Baze observed dryly.

“I find killing one person distasteful,” answered Cassian, the practice weapon steady in his hand, as he took his aim.

“You are in the wrong line of work.” 

“I used to be in recruitment.” 

“That is the least surprising thing I have ever heard.” 

“Why did they take you out of it?” The question was from Chirrut, listening nearby.

“They needed more intelligence officers and thought I would do well.” 

“How unfortunate for you,” said Baze.

“It’s for the Rebellion.” 

“How fortunate for the Rebellion,” observed Chirrut.

Jyn was a little miffed when they had moved into Cassian’s quarters. Sure, it was big enough for all of them, and otherwise they had to stay in the barracks, but, well. Jyn would like some private time with Cassian on occasion. “I’m sure you can find private time, my friend,” Baze said, as though he had years of experience with the subject, as he probably did. 

Baze had been right - she and Cassian had had to get creative, and as they were both the type to enjoy this kind of challenge, they had found the experience rewarding, to put it mildly.

*

Draven wasn’t happy when Cassian brought back the Imperial pilot, Bodhi Rook. Draven felt Andor should’ve left Rook where he was, used him as a contact. He wanted Andor to try to put him back, to see if the Empire would accept a story of escaping from the Rebels, but Andor argued Rook didn’t have the temperament for it. At first Draven thought that maybe Cassian didn’t have the temperament for this anymore, but after getting to know Bodhi Rook Draven was forced to concede that his intelligence officer had been right. Rook definitely didn’t seem to have the temperament for that kind of work.

The Alliance needed pilots, however, and Rook went where he was sent without complaint, while learning to be a fighter pilot in addition to his other skills. Andor occasionally requested him for missions where he felt he would benefit from Rook’s expertise. Draven prefered his intelligence agents to work alone, and marveled at how Andor had managed to build a team for himself in spite of this.

*

Chirrut pulled a small object from his robes and handed it to Bodhi. Bodhi’s eyes got wide as he took the stone statue in his hand. It was worn with age but still recognizable as one of the objects that had adorned the temple on Jedha.

Jyn, sitting across from Bodhi on the window ledge bed in Cassian’s room that she no longer needed, so she let Bodhi sleep there, looked on with curiosity. “You brought that with you from Jedha?” she asked. When she and Cassian had taken the guardians off of the planet they had been in a hurry, as usual, leaving the two men little time to go take anything with them besides what they were already carrying. The statue was small enough that Chirrut could’ve had it on him, though.

Chirrut smiled. “No, I don’t normally carry around articles that have been dedicated to the temple.”

Bodhi frowned, still rubbing the object in one hand, a reminder of home. “Where did you find it?”

“Here,” said Chirrut, still smiling.

Jyn and Bodhi continued to frown at him in confusion, so Baze, used to interpreting, answered, “This room would do well for a temple.”

With that, the two understood that Chirrut had found it amongst the many artifacts that Cassian had gathered, though the question of how remained unanswered.

When Bodhi tried to give it back, Chirrut waved him away, saying “Keep it.”

“Thank you,” answered Bodhi quietly, still looking at the object.

“Do you think that wise? That article is worth-”

“ _Kay_ ,” said several people at once.

“It’s alright,” said Cassian, giving Bodhi a slight smile from across the room that nevertheless hit his eyes. Cassian was sitting on his bed, going over reports with K-2SO looming above him.

Bodhi, still fingering the statue while looking at the droid, said, “I once told an Imperial scientist about the temple. I was surprised, that he was interested such things, but he told me his wife had been a follower.”

Cassian attempted to give Jyn a warning from across the room that he saw her ignore. “What happened to his wife?”

Bodhi looked down at the reminder of home, suddenly sorry for bringing it up. “He said she died.”

Next to him, Jyn was barely breathing. Cassian asked, “Do you know where this scientist is?”

“He was at the kyber refinery on Eadu,” said Bodhi. “Or he was, last I saw him. I think he had been there awhile.”

For Cassian, everything was starting to click into place. He had another question to ask, but Kay beat him to it. “What is the scientist’s name?”

“Galen Erso,” said Bodhi. The mood in the room had dramatically changed, tension and fissures running through it where before there had been only companionship and comfort.

Jyn jumped up and headed towards the door, but both Cassian and K-2 blocked her exit. “Stop,” said Cassian. “Think. You can’t do this yourself.”

“I’m not doing anything,” said Jyn. Cassian knew if it was just him she would’ve tried to fight her way out, and very well could’ve been successful. But she wasn’t getting past Kay.

“What’s going-” Bodhi tried to ask, but Chirrut shushed him with a touch.

“He’s going to know about the weapon,” said Cassian, trying to reason with her, which wasn’t the easiest task even when Jyn wasn’t wound so tight, ready to lash out on anyone who got to close.

“He’s probably building the weapon,” said K-2, not really helpfully.

Cassian watched Jyn flinch in response to that. Jyn rarely spoke of her father, shutting up and freezing anyone out whenever he was mentioned. However, Cassian had been sure she’d jump at any chance to find him, and deal with the consequences later. He thought he could convince Draven to let him go get Galen, especially since Cassian had so recently brought information about the super weapon the Empire was building into Alliance hands. However, allowing him to bring Jyn was going to be a tougher sell, and keeping Jyn from doing anything rash was going to be even harder.

*

“It was Alliance bombs that hit him!”

Jyn stood in front of Draven, enraged, Baze holding her by the upper arm, restraining and comforting at the same time. Draven got the impression that if he said the wrong thing, Baze would let her go.

Draven had much the same reaction as Jyn, when he had found out. The Alliance, like all large military operations, did not always know what other parts were doing, meaning people occasionally got caught in friendly fire. Like Cassian had. When Draven had confronted the commander in charge, there had been no one to hold him back.

“If it makes you feel any better, I punched the commander in charge in the mouth.”

Jyn relaxed somewhat, but she was still infuriated. Draven thought back to their encounter a few days ago, when Cassian had marched her into his and Mon Mothma’s presence, K-2SO acting as a guard, and explained the situation and what he wanted to do about it. Cassian had wanted to leave immediately to go get Galen Erso, and Draven could see why, looking at Jyn. She was far more upset now than she had been then, and Cassian wasn’t there, to act as a restraining presence over her agitation and rage.

*

Draven stood watching Cassian’s prone form through a window, as his top operative was laid out on a bed in medbay. Jyn was asleep in a chair next to him, her arms folded on the bed, touching Cassian, her head in her arms. For the first time, she had been unable to bring Cassian back in one piece.

They had been sent to Eadu, to get Jyn’s father, to try and convince him to help the Rebellion, hoping Jyn’s presence would be enough persuasion. According to Galen Erso, he didn’t need the persuasion, and would help the Alliance. He was busy even now building plans to show engineers the flaw he had built in the Death Star. Draven knew it would be an uphill battle to convince certain fractions of the Rebellion to go along with attacking the super weapon - few were going to be inclined to trust Erso. Erso had told him the true plans were on Scarif, and Draven was well aware that he might have to send a team to go get them, the proof necessary for what Erso was telling them.

Draven knew the people he wished to send, but he didn’t know what shape they would be in. Cassian was still recovering from his wounds, but he wasn’t the one Draven was worried about.

The fact that it had been on a mission to retrieve her father that Cassian had gotten hurt wasn’t sitting particularly well with Jyn.

When Cassian woke to pull Jyn up on the bed with him, Draven left to give them some privacy.

*

“ _I’m sorry_ ,” Jyn whispered into his shoulder.

“ _For what?_ ” he asked just as quietly, bumping his nose against her forehead. She could barely understand him, his throat still raw, his voice hoarse from having been asleep.

Jyn rubbed his thumb with hers, where their hands meet over his heart. How to say _I’m sorry I almost got you killed saving my father_ \- too late, she had realized that was an exchange she would not make. Worse, it was one she realized he would make in a heartbeat, and had, when he saw the bomb headed their way and thrown her father to the ground, landing on top of him. The bomb exploded above him, flame hitting Cassian in the neck and shoulder, burning. She could still hear him screaming.

Of course, only in a universe as awful as this one would she have ever been forced to think about making such a choice. She had come to expect no less from it, however.

She wished he had let her go on her own, like she had wanted. Maybe she could’ve gotten her father out of there without getting killed in the process. Given the role the others had played in getting them out, she had to admit that was probably highly unlikely.

Jyn realized she had never given Cassian an answer to his question, though he probably didn’t really expect one. Placing a gentle kiss on his shoulder she said, “I’m sorry you got hurt.”

His arm that was around her waist, holding her close, gave her a squeeze, while he turned his head to allow his cheek to rub against her hair. “I knew you were there.” She curled her fingers into the shirt over his chest. “And your father?” He didn’t really seem to want to ask the question.

“He’s fine. He’s with Rebel scientists, explaining to them the flaw he built into the Death Star.”

Cassian’s movements stopped. “Why are you not with him?”

Jyn tightened her grip on his shirt. He had always expected her to leave him, if ever her father came back into her life. When she could speak over the lump in her throat, she said, “Because you’re here.”

“I’m okay,” he said gently, reassuring, giving her an out.

She pressed in closer to him, burying her face in his neck. “I know.” She wasn’t going anywhere.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Rebelcaptain Appreciation Week writing prompt 'family'. I tried to hit some of the same notes the movie did - such as Cassian and Jyn's fight, Baze's observation of Cassian, being attacked by Rebel bombs - while doing something different with them. Also I've always been very interested in Saw and his reasoning for treating Jyn as she did. I thought that Cassian, having had to treat people in a similar manner, might recognize what Saw had done. There's more than one way to skin a cat.
> 
> I am gretamaya on tumblr, feel free to come say hi!


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